Pitching fits over food

My previous post about stocking stuffers and my mention of LO pitching a fit over food made me wonder of I'm the only one dealing with this. Eden has become a very picky eater over the last several months. One day she likes something and the next she won't touch it and throws it in the floor. She knows that we keep her snacks (Cheerios, apple sauce, mandarin orange cups, etc...) in a certain cabinet and will point to it and scream bloody murder web she looks at her plate and there's nothing on there she wants. Usually I just tell her "This is the food that we are havin today. Sorry it's not time for a snack from the cabinet." an then ignore her and she goes into a full out, back-arching, screaming tantrum. Usually she will calm down after a few minutes and decide to eat what's on her tray. If she eats really good and is still hungry I'll give her some fruit out of the cabinet. I never feed her excessively or let her pig out on junk.... Never! We always eat really healthy and feuit is the aweetest thing she ever has. So I don't know why she is acting like this. Today in Panera she spotted the apple on her plate and wouldn't touch her turkey sandwich.... And normally she LOVES that sandwhich and gobbles it up without hardly breathing. We finally just had to pack things up and head out because she was going crazy, screaming, reaching for the apple (I even hid it in the diaper bag) tying to dive out of the high chair, etc. lol I felt bad for the people around us. Anyone else dealing with food -related tantrums??? Any tips?

My boy isn't a super picky eater, but wants to eat all the time. He may have just ate, but if my husband or I are eating he wants our food and will throw the worst temper tantrum ever. I don't know where he picked up that habit. We have to hide our food as we eat or he will scream, cry, and fall on the floor. It is unreal.

Your post hits home for me. Our daughter has always been a great eater (very lucky-my nephew eats almost nothing!). She loves veggies, anything with hummus, fruits, chicken, cheese, etc. We give her snacks here and there but nothing more that pirates booty, kashi bars, yogurt, etc. She now says yes or no with her head and has begun saying NO to things she normally loves, like broccoli or chicken. She'll say Apple (for Gogo apple sauce) and start thrashing crying saying All Done! I've had success leaving her meal, playing, bath and coming back to it. More often than not she'll eat it up but I can tell she's getting more bold, now throwing food and plates on the floor. When this happens I'm not sure exactly what to do. I'm sorry I'm not offering advice, but I'm in the same boat. I'd love to hear what works for people!

Don't get me wrong I am not overly strict in the least. We have 3 dogs and they get a good portion of my Lo food. But I was a nanny for 5 years before I had kids if my own. I coolers the same with my own as I did with them. I offered 5 small meals for kids not in school and 3 regular with a snack sometimes two for kids in school. If you want to throw your food it will be taken away. I will feed you as long as your hungry and not bored lol. My doctor said to offer them food and if they skip a few meals they will not starve. They will eat when they want. My dd only eats 2 big meals a day which concerned me but doc said that's fine. She is 6. My son doesn't skip meals. But he is also .it trusted to eat around dogs lol. I hope this helps.

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Yes I have boobies, sometimes they are useful , mostly they are decorative, all the time they are FABULOUS!!!

Mine is constantly in the kitchen pointing at the cabinet for snacks! And gets ticked when I don't give them to her. She's also become picky, will not eat veggies anymore except broccoli. She'd rather snack than eat. She's always LOVED food and now she's not eating quite as much at meals but wants to snack all the time.

Lol I gotcha! ;) Eden eats well... When it's something she likes. But like tonight, I made taco soup and she ate the beans and corn but threw the tomatoes and beef on the floor. Lol i can deal with the food throwing, just not the pitching of fits for "snacks" that are in the cabinet when she needs to eat what I cooked.

My son will not eat anything you feed him. Oatmeal, applesauce, etc. if he can not pick it up and feed himself he will turn his head back and forth, start crying and screaming. So I have to give him food that I can chop up for him to eat.

My DD just started doing this as well. She'll eat almost anything but if there is some part of dinner she likes over the rest she'll only eat that and nothing else. For example, the other night we had chicken, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. DD loves everything we had that night but really LOVES sweet potatoes. She refused the chicken and zucchini and only at the sweet potato and a full blown tantrum came about when there was no more sweet potato for her and she didn't want the other stuff. I took her out of her chair and she was done. The next day we had leftovers for lunch so I brought out the zucchini first and once she ate that I brought out the chicken. I brought the sweet potato out last. If she sees it, she wants it, if it's not there she can't freak out about it. I hope that makes sense...

In your example in the op you said she tantrumed over an apple?
I don't get it, why would you withhold fruit? It's not like an apple is unhealthy at all.
I understand it is frustrating that she wouldn't eat the sandwich but its not like what she wanted was something bad for her. Would you have let her have apple if she ate some sandwich first??
Our kids are becoming little people with their own ideas and preferences and thought processes etc, they are struggling to become independent and exert their own will. It's totally developmentally normal.
As long as you are offering healthy good options, who cares in what order they choose to eat it?
Your job is to provide healthy food options and regular predictable time intervals. Their job is to choose how much and what they put into their own bodies.
If you feel she is eating too much fruit - dont offer it at the next meal/snack time, and only offer the choices you would prefer she choose. But you really can't do much more then that. I think it's kind of unfair at this age to let them see something they like but you won't let them have because they developmentally can't understand that just yet.
I think you are doing the right thing when you acknowledge she wants something from the snack cupboard but then reinforce that it's not time for that now and redirect her attention back to the choices that are on offer.
Good luck, I know it's not easy, but sometimes you just need to let them have control and make choices for themselves about their own bodies.